Truth and Love
Scripture
Introduction
The Importance of Truth
The word “truth” is met with five times in this short Epistle of but thirteen verses, and forms its key-word.
Christian love is by no means mere sentimentalism or humanistic compassion, but is motivated by a knowledge of the truth which has been revealed in Christ. Truth is the basis of love. It is precisely this truth, on account of which the church is loved, that the church must be careful to guard.
John opened his letter on this note of “truth” because there were false teachers abroad who were spreading error. He called them deceivers and antichrists (2 John 7). John was not one to say that all religious teachings are true in one way or another, and that we should not be critical just as long as people are sincere. To John, there was a great difference, in fact, a deadly difference, between truth and error; and he would not tolerate error.
John Wesley, who very much believed that God still speaks today, talked about how one time a woman came up to him and said that she had a message from the Lord, and she began to chastise him for “laying up treasures on the earth.” That’s a rather curious charge for a man who lived an heroically frugal life, who promised that he would die with no more than 10 pounds to his name even though he actually was earning a lot of money from his writings and whatnot—and that’s a promise, by the way, that he kept. She also accused him of taking his ease. And if you pick up his journal and see how often he preached and how far he traveled through some of the worst weather, you would know that it couldn’t be possibly be true, because the Lord simply wouldn’t tell somebody they’re not doing what they are doing. Wesley looked at her and he said—I would have loved to have seen him as he responded this way—“I told her, God knew me better; and if he had sent her, he would have sent her with a more proper message.”
Some honor the Word and neglect the Spirit who alone can interpret it; others honor the Spirit but neglect the Word out of which He teaches. The only safeguard against lies is to have abiding within us both the Word that we heard from the beginning and the anointing that we received from Him.
What I love about this is that Stott is telling us we don’t have to choose. We can believe in the authoritative truth of God’s holy word, and we could believe in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit who convicts us, who inspires us, who teaches us.
To “walk in the truth” means to obey it, to permit it to control every area of our lives. This paragraph opens and closes with an emphasis on obedience, walking in the truth. It is much easier to study the truth, or even argue about the truth, than it is to practice it! In fact, sometimes zealous Christians disobey the truth in the very way they try to defend it.
Although John talks about love more than any other writer in Scripture, he also emphasizes truth more than any other writer—using the word “truth” twenty times in his Gospel, nine times in 1 John, five times in these opening verses of 2 John, and five more times in 3 John.
I find it interesting that it was the “apostle of love” whom the Lord tapped on the shoulder to also be the one who stressed truth, because when you talk about love, it’s very easy to get mushy, to become sentimental, to begin to say, “I’ll just love that person rather than be honest with him.” Such is not the case with John. And his example is a needful one in a day when the economy has eclipsed integrity as our nation’s top priority, in an age where what is true for one person may or may not be true for another, in a culture that embraces Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), rather than Jesus’ declaration, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).
The Importance of Love
However, you’ll see, John doesn’t mean love one another indiscriminately, without boundaries
Truth and love are married together, the commandments
I have a couple of friends who, it seems, were treated very cruelly by their family doctor. You see, they went to their doctor after the doctor ran some tests and the doctor said the most cruel thing imaginable. This is what the doctor said to friends of mine, you have cancer. Isn’t that cruel? How horrible for a doctor to say something that horrendous to a friend.
You go, Skip, that’s what doctors do, they run tests and they tell people the truth. That’s my point. One of the most loving things you can do is to tell people the truth, not to hide it from them. It wouldn’t do a person any good if the doctor said, oh, don’t worry about it, go home and take a couple of aspirin, you’ll feel better in the morning. No, you have an aggressive form of cancer, we need to treat this aggressively.
You see, love and truth are never inseparable. You never increase love by decreasing the truth. Whenever you compromise the truth, you actually destroy true love. So that’s the premise. True love requires loving truth, that you love the truth.
If we are Christians, we are to love our neighbours and even our enemies; but we are bound to our fellow Christians by the special bond of truth. Truth is the ground of reciprocal Christian love
The statement that Christians should love one another is a recurrent New Testament theme
Believers can show love in many ways: by avoiding prejudice and discrimination, by accepting people, by listening, helping, giving, serving
Knowing God’s command is not enough. Those who claim to love God and believe in his Son must put their faith into practice by loving.
John stressed love. This should be the calling card of a believer. Surely John was remembering the upper room teaching of Jesus that love was the primary way the world would recognize his disciples (John 13:34–35). It’s easy to be a nice person and to maintain the trappings of spirituality. But loving unlovable people takes supernatural help. No wonder people sit up and take notice! Trust the Lord today for the capacity to love all those he has put in your life. Ask God to live in you and love through you.